the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon called on Wednesday for an "immediate, verifiable cease-fire" in Libya where rebels are fighting to end Muammar Qadaffy's 41 years in power.Ban was speaking in Geneva after talking with Libya's Prime Minister Al-Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
i Ali al-Mahmoudi. There was no immediate direct response from the rebels or government.
Qadaffy's government has made several cease-fire declarations but has continued its attacks on the besieged western city of Misrata and other rebel-held areas.
"He (Mahmoudi) even suggested the Libyan government was willing to have an immediate cease-fire with a monitoring team to be established by the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
and the African Union,"
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Ban told a news conference.
"But first and foremost there should be an end to the fighting in Misrata and elsewhere. Then we will be able to provide humanitarian assistance and in parallel we can continue our political dialogue," Ban added.
Rebels said on Tuesday they made gains by driving back Qadaffy's troops on the eastern and western edges of Misrata and encircling them at the airport.
The rebels also said they had taken the town of Zareek, about 25 km (15 miles) west of Misrata, but no independent verification of their statements was available.
Misrata, besieged by Qadaffy's forces for eight weeks, is the only major city the rebels hold in the west of the country.
NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
launched missile strikes on Tuesday in the Tripoli area on targets that appeared to include Qadaffy's compound, witnesses said. NATO said later it carried out a strike against a government command and control post in the capital.